Nov. 15, 2013 - 06:21PM
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Georgia man who pleaded guilty for his role in an $18 million kickback scheme that targeted the U.S. Navy was sentenced Friday to serve three years of probation by a federal judge in Rhode Island.

Patrick Barry Nagle, of Marietta, Ga., had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and the sentencing guidelines had called for him to receive a five-year prison term, but prosecutors recommended a far lighter sentence because Nagle cooperated extensively with the investigation, which ultimately resulted in guilty pleas from five others.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi agreed and also ordered him to help pay $18 million restitution to the Navy, a $25,000 fine and 300 hours of community service.

Before he was sentenced, Nagle apologized to the Navy and the more than 100 employees of the contractor where he was once chief financial officer, Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow, all of whom lost their jobs after the firm went under because of the scheme.

“My motive for participating in this criminal scheme was to keep my job,” Nagle said. He said he knows now he should have walked away and alerted authorities. “That I did not do so is going to be a continuing source of pain for me.”

Prosecutors say Nagle signed off on false and inflated invoices that were submitted to Georgia-based ASFT by subcontractors from 1999 to June 2010 even though he knew the work had largely not been done. ASFT would then send kickbacks to civilian Navy employee Ralph Mariano, the ringleader of the scheme, and others. Prosecutors pointed out that while others involved had received millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains, Nagle received a comparatively small amount, $45,000.

ASFT also had offices in Middletown, R.I.

Nagle pleaded guilty in 2011 and his sentencing was put on hold while the case continued.

Mariano was sentenced this month to 10 years in prison, although he is appealing his sentence and conviction. His father, Ralph Mariano Jr., received a two-year home confinement sentence for tax evasion. Awaiting sentencing in the coming weeks are ASFT founder Anjan Dutta-Gupta, Mariano’s girlfriend, Mary O’Rourke, who was an executive at ASFT, and Russell Spencer, an ASFT subcontractor.